Dubai: The colours of the rectangular mark on the crimp of toothpaste tubes do not indicate the components of the paste, the Dubai Municipality clarified on Wednesday.
The Public Health and Safety Department’s clarification followed rumours on social media that these colour-coded marks indicate the presence of chemical and natural components in the toothpastes.
A widely spread message claimed the colour codes on these marks indicated the following components: black -pure chemical, red -natural and chemical, blue — natural and medicinal and green — natural components.
Colour-coded marks indicating chemical and natural components in toothpaste. Courtesy: Dubai Municipality
Marwan Al Mohammad, director of the Public Health and Safety Department that ensures the safety of consumer products in Dubai, called this a baseless rumour and asked the public to refrain from spreading such false and misleading information.
An expert with the department told Gulf News these colour codes are known as “eye marks” in the manufacturing process and simply give an indication to the machines on where to cut the tubes.
“The colours do not have any relation with the products’ components,” said Dr Mariam Mahmoud Bin Eisa.
“We can see similar marks in other products like milk packets, cream sachets and others as well. The selection of the colour is a company’s choice and that is read by the machine that packs the tubes. It just signals the machine that the tube is full with the required quantity and can be cut at that point,” said Dr Bin Eisa, who heads the Field Inspection and Consumer Product Safety Section at the Department.
“It is commonsense to think that no company would say their product is dangerous for consumers,” she said, asking consumers not to stop purchasing tubes with so-called colours that are rumoured to indicate only chemical components in toothpastes.
Some residents said they had heard this rumour long back and believed it was true. “My son had read it somewhere and he alerted all my family members. After that all of us used to open the toothpaste cover and check the colour of the mark on the crimp and go only for the ones that indicated natural components,” said Seema Santhosh, a Sharjah resident.
